In vehicles which are equipped with automatic transmissions, the shifting lever is movable from a park position to other gear positions such as reverse, neutral, drive, second gear and first gear. The shifting lever is generally associated with a detent plate and detent pawl for releasably holding the lever in the park position and an actuator means is provided for actuating the pawl to release the shifting lever for movement to the other gear positions.
In shifting from the park position to the other gear positions, problems have been encountered in the unintended acceleration of the vehicle and, therefore, efforts have been made to prevent the shifting of the shifting lever until the brake pedal had been depressed so that the vehicle will not move before it is intended by the driver.
Further, presently there is in existence steering lockout mechanisms located in the steering column of the vehicle which prevents the shifting lever from being shifted until the steering mechanism is out of lock. In other words, such steering lockout mechanisms prevents the premature acceleration of the vehicle while the steering mechanism is locked. This has been accomplished by a cable extending from the steering lockout mechanism located in the steering column to the transmission shifter. The cable prevents the shifter from being actuated out of the park position until the steering lockout mechanism is released.
The efforts thus far made in developing brake/park lock mechanisms that will prevent the shifting of the shifter lever until such time as the brake is applied have been very complicated, particularly in those transmission shifters in which a detent plate and detent pawl are associated with the shifting lever for releasably holding the lever in the park position. Also, in this type of shifting lever, the mechanism for locking the shifting lever in a park lock position until the brake is applied and before the steering lockout mechanism is released have been very complicated.
The object of the present invention is to provide a simplified, lower cost version of a brake/park mechanism for preventing a driver from shifting a shifter lever from park position to another gear position unless the brake is applied. Another object is to provide a combination brake/park lock mechanism and steering lock mechanism which will permit the shifter lever to be shifted out of the park position only when the brake is applied and the steering lock mechanism is released by actuation of the ignition key.